116: Chapter 116 A Symbol on Par with Rockefeller
A few days later.
The front page of The New York Times was dominated by an exquisite photograph of the Model T that took up half the page.
Printed above it was a highly provocative bold headline: "An Epoch-Making Vehicle That Will Change Human Travel!"
"Are you still enduring slow, bumpy, ancient horse-drawn carriages?"
"Are you still frazzled every day by buying horse feed, meticulously tending to horses, or even worrying about them getting sick?"
"Why not come and experience this epoch-making, brand-new vehicle?"
"With just a few gallons of fuel a day, you can easily travel directly from New York to Buffalo! No fodder needed, and it never gets sick!"
"The Lin's Model T, driving you into the future ahead of time!"
At the very bottom of the advertisement, the specific address of the Lins Car Dealership was marked in eye-catching font.
As soon as this advertisement came out, the entire wealthy circle of New York instantly exploded with excitement!
In fact, New York's high society had long known of the existence of the Lin's Model T.
Because production was extremely low, they could only occasionally see this stylish car roaring past on Wall Street or in Times Square.
Its sleek lines and elegant design had long since captured the souls of these wealthy elites; who wouldn't want to own one?
But the problem was, aside from Lin Tian himself...
...only a handful of top-tier figures, such as Rockefeller, J.C. Fargo, and the mayor's older brother, James Roosevelt, were qualified to own one.
Countless people waved large stacks of cash, only to discover in despair that this thing was simply not for sale!
Since the debut of the Model T, those outdated European imported cars instantly became unwanted trash in New York.
Just look at the caliber of the big shots who owned a Model T.
It didn't even need any advertising anymore. The Model T itself had become a symbol of top-tier status and prestige!
Driving a Model T was equivalent to standing in the same class as super-tycoons like Rockefeller and Lin Tian!
So, when the newspaper officially announced that the Lins Car Dealership was about to start sales...
a crowd of high-society gentlemen wearing top hats and holding walking canes immediately took large groups of servants and descended upon the Lins Car Dealership in a grand procession.
However, according to the instructions in the newspaper, all Lins Car Dealerships across America would open for business simultaneously at nine o'clock tomorrow morning.
Furthermore, the quota for the New York area was a mere one hundred cars!
Hearing this news, and seeing the crowd of over a thousand people gathering outside the dealership,
these rich folks panicked. If they waited until tomorrow morning to show up, let alone buying a car, they probably wouldn't even catch a whiff of the exhaust fumes!
Thus, the wealthy who had brought servants immediately ordered them to hold their ground on the spot.
Those who didn't bring servants simply went at it themselves, taking off their noble coats and preparing to endure an overnight wait in line.
At this moment, standing in the crowd was a sixteen-year-old boy named John Dodge.
Despite his young age, he was a genuine, bona fide small owner of a bicycle factory.
In 1886, his family moved to Detroit to start their entrepreneurial journey.
They keenly seized the emerging trend of bicycles. Especially after the advent of pneumatic tires in 1888, bicycles instantly swept the globe.
Relying on a small workshop-style factory in Detroit, John Dodge earned his first pot of gold.
Later, he opened a Dodge Trading Company in New York. In addition to selling his own bicycles, he also sold novelties like electric lights and telephones—plainly speaking, it was a high-end general store.
Today, he rode his bicycle past the Lins Car Dealership, only to be completely blocked by the dense crowd.
Upon asking around, he learned that the Model T under Bruce Lin was going on sale tomorrow.
But what astounded John Dodge was that those usually well-dressed, snobbish gentlemen were actually lining up obediently now, like refugees waiting for relief food!
Some were even prepared to pull an all-nighter!
"My God! How is this possible? What kind of magic did Bruce Lin's cars cast to make these aristocratic gentlemen throw away all their dignity just to line up?"
John Dodge was filled with shock.
He recalled that back when his family sold bicycles, he and his brother had to talk their ears off, pitching to people one by one just to barely make a sale.
This future American automotive tycoon, the dedicated supplier of Ford Motor, and the founder of Dodge...
...still could not comprehend the terrifying appeal of the Model T at this moment.
In his previous understanding, those European-made classic cars drove as slow as snails and were not even as nimble as his family's bicycles.
It wasn't until he bought a copy of The New York Times and carefully studied the photograph of the Model T on it that his worldview was completely shattered.
"My God! This is simply the ultimate masterpiece of industrial civilization!"
Immediately afterward, a crazy idea, bold to the extreme, suddenly popped into the mind of this teenager with top-tier business acumen.
"What if... what if my Dodge Trading Company could secure a portion of the sales agency rights for the Model T?!"
Thinking of this, he tossed his bicycle aside, squeezed his way to the front of the line, and said to the gentleman in the first spot:
"Sir, if you are willing to give up this spot to me, I'll pay you five hundred dollars!"
"Hmph! A wet-behind-the-ears kid like you thinks I would, for a mere five hundred—"
"Six hundred!" John Dodge increased the bid without blinking.
"You..."
"Seven hundred!"
"I... you're tough, kid! The spot is yours!"
That gentleman ultimately could not resist the temptation of seven hundred dollars and readily yielded the coveted first place.
In fact, this was already all of John Dodge's net worth.
With only a few pitiful coins left in his pocket now, he couldn't afford that expensive Model T at all.
And so, John Dodge stayed with the dense crowd.
In the biting cold wind of early spring in March, he endured a whole night.
This was New York, after all, and his hometown was Detroit.
On the streets of this unfamiliar city, there were naturally no friends or family to bring him hot tea or warm meals.
Although in the latter half of the night, a few teenage white children carrying baskets began weaving through the line to peddle food,
the prices were outrageously extortionate.
Although John Dodge still had a few coins in his pocket, they were travel expenses saved for his train ticket back to Detroit, and he couldn't spend a single cent of them.
Thus, during this long night, he practically had nothing to drink and didn't even eat a hard breadcrumb.
By the time the eastern sky began to pale, he was starving, and his throat was dry enough to smoke.
"Dear God, I really want a steaming cup of coffee!"
Shivering from the cold, he mumbled in a daze.
Finally, the time arrived for the dealership's opening as announced. Although the newspaper clearly stated in black and white that only one hundred cars were available for the New York area,
the crowd blocking the entrance of the dealership at this moment numbered at least over a thousand!
The long queue, like a winding dragon, completely blocked the wide road in front of the door.
Most of those lined up near the back actually harbored a glimmer of hope in their hearts.
What if there was extra stock in the Lins Car Dealership's warehouse? What if the newspaper printed the wrong number?
Finally, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the tightly closed doors of the Lins Car Dealership slowly slid open to both sides.
*Click! Click!*
As soon as the doors opened, a group of newspaper reporters who had long taken up advantageous positions immediately raised their heavy cameras and frantically pressed their shutters at the interior of the dealership, flashbulbs flashing in unison.
Everyone's gaze was instantly transfixed by a car right in the center of the showroom.
It was a Model T gleaming with a dazzling golden light!
Illuminated by the showroom lights, this car looked like a top-tier piece of art cast entirely from pure gold, nearly blinding the eyes of the country bumpkins outside.
"A Model T made of pure gold! I want to buy this one! I'll pay whatever it costs!"
A fat man dressed like a nouveau riche screamed frantically at the top of his lungs.
"Bullshit! A pork seller like you is worthy of driving this kind of car? Only this golden car is worthy of my noble status!" a gentleman wearing gold-rimmed glasses nearby snapped on the spot.
"Who are you calling a pork seller? You're just a bankrupt plumber!"
Seeing that several gentlemen, who usually prided themselves on their grace, were about to come to blows at the dealership's entrance just to grab a car,
a female sales representative dressed in a sharp business suit quickly stepped out, carrying an impeccable professional smile on her face:
"Gentlemen, please calm down! We are very sorry, but this gold custom edition Model T is only for display as our store's showpiece and is not for sale!"
"I'll pay ten thousand dollars in cash! I want to take it home right now! I'm completely in love with it!"
A fanatical car enthusiast waved his checkbook and roared loudly.
However, the female sales representative still shook her head politely but firmly.
In fact, this crowd was completely hoodwinked.
The blinding gold car before them was not made of pure gold at all. Gold is far too soft to be used to build a car.
It was merely an ordinary Model T, only plated with a thin layer of gold leaf on the outside.
This was entirely a marketing gimmick played by Lin Tian.
The subtext was obvious: Open your eyes and look, this is the most luxurious and noble car in the world today!
As for those outdated classic cars from Europe, what are they compared to this? Is that meager bit of shabby crocodile leather wrapped on your cars as prestigious as our golden car?
Indeed! Lin Tian had no intention of selling the Model T like cheap cabbage, as Ford did in original history.
Because of limitations in the current number of skilled workers and the supply of materials for certain core components,
the production capacity of the Model T could not possibly see an explosive growth in the short term.
Therefore, Lin Tian's business strategy was very clear: in the early stages, he had to take the high-end luxury goods route!
If they still sold it at the historically rock-bottom price of nine hundred and fifty dollars,
with the current first batch of only one thousand two hundred cars, it would probably be snatched up down to the last screw in less than an hour after opening. How would they sustain the hype then?